The historical Fostoria property in Moundsville, West Virginia will undergo asbestos remediation efforts soon, according to city manager Allen Hendershot. The area has been relatively inactive since the glass company was sold off back in 1986 after nearly a century of manufacturing stemware, dinnerware, glass containers and the like. The Fostoria Glass Company was well known for its popular glassware patterns such as the American, Century, Rose and more. Surviving both the Great Depression and World War II, Fostoria manufactured more than 8 million glass pieces annually at its peak, published a magazine about crystal patterns and glassware, and filled orders for notable persons including several US Presidents.
“It hurt our economy when we lost the Fostoria,” said Hendershot, “it had 700 to 800 employees at any one time. So that was a major dent in our employment. The developers on site have taken down an additional five buildings and it’s very visible the change in the site now.”
While asbestos is no longer widely used in the USA and other developed nations, historically it was a popular insulating material used in industrial processes where extreme heat was involved, such as firing glassware. In the Fostoria Glass Company, asbestos fabrics, gloves and other protective wear were used to keep workers safe from burns while pressing or etching molten glass, while asbestos insulation was used to protect furnaces and other parts of the buildings. With the discovery and popularization of asbestos’s hazards to human health, many states require that specialized firms handle the removal and proper disposal of asbestos from old buildings and homes.
Mesothelioma is one of many asbestos related diseases that often haunts those exposed to asbestos fibers in their youth. The cancer attacks the mesothelium, a protective tissue which encases our bodies’ vital organs, and most often occurs in the chest and abdominal cavities. Mesothelioma is aggressive and incurable; its prognosis is fairly dismal, often giving patients no more than about two years to live. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been known to reduce the symptoms of the cancer in some cases, although they are rarely able to force it into remission.
“We’re hoping to have the preliminary remedial action plan ready by mid-January. We’ll have to submit that to the [Department of Environmental Protection] for approval,” said Hendershot, “but we’re hoping that we’ll be able to keep this process moving quickly now.”
